A Carefully Orchestrated Threat
by OnyxBird
Summary: Ward calls off a mission due to suspicious activity. Skye thinks he overreacted. Both argue their cases to Coulson.


A Carefully Orchestrated Threat

Summary: Ward calls off a mission due to suspicious activity. Skye thinks he overreacted. Both argue their cases to Coulson.

The white van pulled into the cargo bay of the Bus. Agents Coulson and May walked out to meet the rest of the team, puzzled. The team's electronic surveillance mission should have been low risk and taken most of the afternoon. Agent Ward had called in a half hour earlier, tersely saying they were aborting the mission, but he hadn't explained why. Since then, Coulson and May had been continuously monitoring news and SHIELD intel for the area and had seen nothing of concern.

Ward, Skye, and Fitz-Simmons piled out of the vehicle. The tension in the air was palpable. Skye and Ward both looked furious, while Fitz and Simmons glanced hesitantly between them.

Coulson smiled mildly, "So, what happened?"

Ward spoke up firmly. "An unidentified group was mobilizing on the plaza where we were stationed, sir. I could not confirm whether they were there due to our mission specifically, but I would not have been able to adequately protect the team from a group of those numbers, so I made the call-"

"Protect the team?" Skye interrupted, "The team was never in danger. Ward _completely_ overreacted-"

Ward cut back in: "We would have been sitting ducks in that van, and I couldn't have safely extracted all three of you on foot. There were only two exits to that plaza that we could fit the van through, and they had already cut us off from one of them. If-"

"They weren't trying to trap us!"

"Not to mention that it's difficult to guarantee the team's safety when my own teammates are actively _sabotaging_ my efforts to do so..." Ward glared daggers at Skye.

"I didn't sabotage anything! _We-_" her gesture encompassed Fitz and Simmons, "just wanted to see what was going on. You know, since it was cool and completely harmless and we weren't in any danger whatso-"

Ward turned to Coulson and raised his voice to be heard over Skye: "Sir! You put me in charge of this team's safety, and in my professional opinion-"

"Well, someone's 'professional opinion' needs recalibration, 'cause..."

Coulson raised his hands in a calming gesture. "_Guys_."

Silence fell.

Coulson turned to Ward. "Ward, you aborted the mission due to suspicious activity from a large, unidentified group that could have threatened the team. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." Ward seemed confident that Coulson would vindicate him.

"And Skye, you disagree with Ward's assessment. Why?"

"Well, there _was_ a 'large, unidentified group.' However, unlike Agent Kill-joy here, the rest of us were enjoying their performance of 'Ode to Joy' on orchestra instruments." She looked Coulson dead in the eye. "Agent Ward freaked out over a flash mob."

Coulson nodded. "I see." He turned to Fitz-Simmons. "And what was your take on the situation?"

Fitz gulped. Simmons squeaked out "I-I...um..." as she tried not to make eye contact with either Ward or Skye. Coulson simply waited for them to pull themselves together. The scientists fidgeted a little more as they scrambled for a diplomatic way to take sides. Fitz finally broke down in a rush of words: "It was a flash mob. A quite good one, really." Coulson looked at Simmons for confirmation. She nodded, biting her lip.

"Thank you, Fitz-Simmons." He turned back to Skye and Ward. "Skye, Agent Ward is in charge of threat assessment. It is his job to ensure team's safety by any means necessary, and I expect the team to cooperate with his instructions. He is a very experienced field agent, and he _will_ see threats that you miss."

Skye opened her mouth to object, and then just squirmed under Coulson's gaze.

"That being said..." He looked at Ward, "you could have let them watch the flash mob. May and I actually saw video of it when we were trying to figure out why you guys pulled out. It was really a lovely performance."


End file.
